Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder by Alice Knightsky
Chapter 192 Ethan’s Finger Just Wiggled!
Soren and I arrived at the cave first. I stayed near the mouth of the cave, and a few minutes later, I saw two familiar wolf figures approaching the cave with a man on one of their backs.
I went about making sure Ethan was comfortable on his makeshift bed, but it wasn’t time yet for me to use the flower to save him. We had to be patient and wait for the nectar.
“Why didn’t we just go back to the palace?” Soren asked me. I hadn’t explained everything to him when we were running as wolves, and he’d come along with me out of faith.
Keeping my voice low, I looked around the cave and replied, “There are spies in the palace. There have to be, or else Madalynn wouldn’t have known that we were going after the flower.”
Seraphine and Vicky gasped, covering their hands with their mouths.
I summarized the situation for them. “We were attacked by Madalynn. That’s why only Soren and I came back first. The rest of the group stayed to hold them off.” Soren didn’t seem nearly as shocked; he must have already thought of that when Madalynn showed up. He asked, “So you tried to draw them out? What’s your plan?”
“We’ll make them reveal themselves to us.”
For some reason, that made him chuckle. “It sounds like you’ve got some ideas.” My eyes scanned the cave and I nodded.
“Seraphine, I want you to use the mindlink to contact Cerina. Tell her to prepare for putting on a show that makes everyone in the palace think I went missing while looking for the flower as soon as you are back. Also, please ask Commander Landon to send a detail tasked with looking for me. We’ll need it to go help Talon and Georgia.”
Seraphine nodded, following me so far.
“Also, people will think that the flower didn’t get picked, so that Ethan will continue to grow weak and that we won’t be able to save him. Give the trusted leaders a heads-up, so that they’re not worried, and make sure that frontline morale wouldn’t be negatively impacted. It’ll be better if the rumor only stays within the walls of the palace.”
I looked them in the eyes, and everyone seemed to be on the same page so far.
“The spies would want to send a message to the enemy or try to get within close range to use the mindlink. Vicky,” I continued, “please work with Paul and Richard. Let them know to keep an eye out for anyone, soldiers or citizens, who are trying to leave the palace once the rumors are out. Those people need to be gathered together and held captive until I return. There’s a good chance they could be the spies. Also, I’ll need someone from your pack to join the rescue team so that hopefully we can mindlink Talon and Georgia when we are close.”
“Very well,” Vicky said. “I’ll step over there so I can concentrate.” She gestured at another area of the cave, planning to start her mindlink.
I stopped her and looked at both Vicky and Seraphine. “You two should return to the palace. With everything going on, there’s going to be chaos in the palace. People may need your help. Also, please look after Rowan for me.”
After both of them hugged me goodbye, I turned to Soren. “We’ll stay here until it’s time for me to give the nectar to Ethan,”
“I thought you would also assign me tasks and send me away too,” Soren chuckled. “Rosalie, you’ve really changed a lot.”
I smiled. “I’ll take it as a compliment. Actually, I need your help on something else.”
Soren laughed. “Of course, it’s a compliment! Tell me, what can I do for you?”
I looked down at Ethan. He laid there peacefully with his eyes closed, but I longed to see them open again.
I pushed my useless sentimental thoughts away, and turned my attention back to Soren. This war had been going on for too long and it had to come to an end.
“Soren, what do you know about the relationship between King Kai and King James?”
Soren went into great detail telling me the history of the two warring sides but concluded with, “At the moment, they are cooperating because you and Ethan are bigger targets for both of them. They are willing to work together to get the two of you before they fight against each other again.”
“Then what kind of role is Damian playing? I heard he went back to the islands?”
“Damian?” Soren repeated, rubbing his chin. “Well, he’s power-hungry,” he said with a shrug.
“He wants to keep the islands that he took when Romero went to prison. Damian is not a stupid man though. He knew he wouldn’t be able to fight against either Kai or James; therefore, if it was up to him, this war would go on as long as possible.”
“Cause problems, find the right opportunity, and make a power grab. He’s already done that once,” I commented
Soren nodded. “Exactly. For example, right now, while both of the kings are busy fighting one another, or against you, Damian would be happy that no one had the time to bother his islands.”
I understood what he was saying. “How’s his relationship with King James and his queen?”
Soren looked at me strangely before he began to respond. “King James used to see him as an ally because he is the one who connected your blood to him and told him what the source was, but-” Soren chuckled, and his gaze turned cold. He turned to me and asked, “Do you know what makes people desperate?”
I shook my head, but I felt a cold shiver run down my spine. Soren answered his own question with a sneer. “It is losing hope after they thought they had it.”
The man standing in front of me seemed cruel and cold. The Soren I knew always had a smile on his face and was always polite and gentle. However, I should not forget that he was also one of the most powerful and scary Alpha in the world. When he turned to me again, his expression softened, and he patiently explained, “See, that being said, I don’t think James treats Damian as his best friend anymore.”
I was quiet, pondering upon the information from him.
“Why did you ask all of this?” Soren seemed a bit amused at my questions.
“I have a plan that might help us buy some time,” I explained.
Soren chuckled slightly. “I had no idea you were so interested in war strategy When did you start becoming interested in schemes and politics?”
It was a good question. I’d led my own troops into battle against the enemy and done my best to fight to protect us, but maybe I’d always felt that there was someone I could rely on, until that person sacrificed himself .
“I became interested when I knew that I didn’t have Ethan to depend on,” We both went into silence for a little bit. I looked up in the sky, and based on the position of the moon, I commented, “It’s almost time.”
“Are you nervous?” Soren asked me, sitting next to me on the cave floor, the flower in its case nearby.
“Yeah, a little,” I told him. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say to Ethan.
“Don’t be,” he said, patting my arm. “Everything will work out okay.”
I managed a smile, but I wasn’t sure I believed him. I was nervous that something would happen and it wouldn’t work. Then, what would happen to Ethan?
At the appointed time, I got up, taking in a shaky breath and trying to make sure that my hands weren’t trembling so much that I’d mess up.
“It’s fine,” Soren told me, standing next to me.
I nodded, but I was hesitant. “Please don’t let me mess this up, Moon Goddess,” I muttered.
Soren said, “You won’t.”
I wished I was as confident in myself as he was in me.
I pulled Ethan’s mouth open and then held the flower above his lips. I squeezed the flower until the nectar began to drip out, the purple liquid glowing like the flower had in the light of the blood moon.
The drops slid down Ethan’s throat, one at a time. By the time the twelfth drop of nectar dripped into Ethan’s mouth, the Moonlight Lily completely dried out and turned to dust in my hands.
I said a prayer to the Moon Goddess, thanking her for the gift, and blew the dust of the flower into the air. Then I closed Ethan’s mouth, and we waited.
I could hear that Ethan’s heartbeat was more powerful, although his breathing was still very smooth. Nothing else seemed to be happening.
I didn’t know what to expect, and I turned to look at Soren, seeking confirmation, although I knew he wasn’t more knowledgeable than me on the matter.
Soren placed his hand on my shoulder. “You’ve done what you can. It’ll work.”
I nodded and stifled a yawn. It was as if my own power had been drawn upon to help him again. I was so tired. It had been over three days since I was able to take a rest for more than thirty minutes.
In my mind, I quickly combed through what else I needed to do. Yes, I’d need to wait for Commander Landon to send us the reinforcements to Georgia and Talon and wait for news from Vicky on the spy… but there wasn’t much I could do at this point.
“Why don’t you rest” he asked me. “I can keep an eye out.”
“I don’t know…” I began, but this time the yawn escaped my lips.
He smiled at me. “Rosalie, you need to sleep. Go on,”
He was right I could barely keep my eyes open. The mat we had Ethan lying on was big enough for both of us, so I lay down next to him.
Within a few seconds, I was asleep.
I knew I was dreaming because I was back at the temple, the one I’d seen in my dreams right before Ethan woke me up
This time, I was outside of the temple, standing a few feet away from the door, a field of green dotted with purple flowers behind me.
I decided to go inside of the temple to see if Ethan was there. Maybe I could speak to him while he was in his coma the same way he had spoken to me in mine.
Had he spoken to me? I couldn’t remember exactly, but the longer I thought about it, the more I thought… maybe he had.
I reached for the door handle to push the door open, but it didn’t budge. That was odd.
Shaking the handle, I realized that the door was locked. Why would it be locked?
I knocked on the door with my fist. “Ethan, are you in there?” I called.
There was no answer.
“Ethan?” I banged harder.
Still, the door remained locked. A desperate feeling began to bubble up inside of me. I remembered then that I’d been here before. I’d been on this side of the locked door with Ethan inside of there.
I’d asked him a question, and he’d responded as he pushed me out the door and locked it. I’d stood right there and banged on the door with both fists, shouting his name.
That had happened right before I awoke from my comma.
What was it that made me so upset? I searched my memory… And then… it all came back to me. I’d asked Ethan if he loved me… And he’d told me, simply, “Never.”
“Ethan?” I called, banging on the door, the same way I had before, when he’d first locked me out. “Ethan!” He didn’t answer me, and a stream of tears began to run down my cheeks.
“Ethan!” I said, pressing my forehead to the door. “You never loved me? Never?”
How could that be possible? Why would he say such a thing to me? I had thought there was a chance that he really did love me, that he wanted to be with me, to raise Rowan. Why else would he sacrifice himself for me?
Had he done it only for our son? The salty tears from my eyes ran into my mouth as I cried out in agony.
“Rosalie? Rosalie!”
Someone was shaking my shoulder. I opened my eyes and found myself looking into a pair of familiar ones -Soren’s.
“Ethan’s finger just wiggled!” he exclaimed.